Most business owners understand the importance of hiring the right people, but not everyone realizes the true cost of hiring the wrong people. Research shows that one bad hire costs a company about $15,000, not to mention the time and money spent looking for and training a replacement.

Hiring the wrong person affects everything from customer satisfaction to the brand reputation, not to mention its toll on employee morale. But it’s not always easy to identify the wrong candidates throughout the interview process. If it were, bed hires wouldn’t happen nearly as often.

The need to hire new people is inevitable, and the key to avoiding bringing the wrong people on board is to go into the process with confidence. Here are three ways to ensure you hire the best candidates.

1. Come up with a system to follow.

Many people mistakenly think that hiring the right people is a talent or an art form, but the truth is that there is a science to it. Quirky questions like what an applicant’s favorite color is or where they see themselves in five or ten years may seem like a way to gain insight into who someone is, but they often fall short in identifying who is right for the job in the long run.

Is it possible to go into the hiring process without a plan and find the perfect candidate? Sure, but without a systematic process in place, you won’t be able to repeat it. By developing a system that measures candidates against the job that they are interviewing for, you can not only repeat the process, but you can teach it to others to ensure it’s followed company-wide.

If you’re hiring for a technical role, like engineer or programmer, develop a challenging task for applicants to complete. Those who do so successfully can move on to the next phase in the interview process. Not only does this rule out a large percentage of applicants, but it also ensures that anyone left in the candidate pool is capable of doing the job.

Developing an unbiased screening system to filter out unskilled candidates is an easy way to weed out the people who would not be capable of doing the work the job demands. It allows you to focus your energy on the candidates who are skilled enough to do the work.

2. Consider a remote option.

Companies across the board are becoming more flexible when it comes to remote work, especially those who adopted remote work policies during the pandemic. Not all roles can be done remotely, obviously, but many can.

Remote work has many benefits for employees, but there are reasons why it benefits employers, too. For one thing, you can fill a remote position with a candidate from any geographical area, giving you a much bigger pool to select from. Not only do you have a better chance of finding a qualified candidate, but you also attract a more diverse group of applicants.

When hiring remote employees, remember to tailor your interview questions to the specific traits required for successful remote work. Do they have a history of working from home successfully? Are they self-motivated? Good at meeting deadlines? Do they prefer remote work or do they want to be in the office? Not everyone is cut out for remote work, but when you find the right candidate, a work-from-home position benefits both the business and the employee.

3. Make sure candidates fit into the company culture.

Many of the qualities you look for when hiring new employees are easy to qualify. Do they have the right credentials? Education? Skills? Talent? These things are important, but they are not the biggest signifier of a new employee’s success in the company.

What matters the most? Company culture. As many as 89 percent of bad hires result from the employee not fitting in with the culture. A problem like a culture mismatch is hard to fix after someone is already on the team, so it’s important to factor it into the interview and screening process.

When posting a job description, always be clear and upfront about the mission and values of the company. By putting it out there right away, applicants can decide whether your business is something they want to be a part of. Repeat these things throughout the interview process and with every interaction with potential employees.

Before hiring anyone, make sure that the team gets an opportunity to review the candidates. These are the team members who will be working with the new employee, so getting their opinions as to whether or not someone seems like a good fit is an important part of ensuring you hire the right person for the job.

Final Thoughts

Once you have a system in place, revisit it annually and make any needed adjustments. What’s working? What isn’t? When you do make changes, make sure you keep everyone up to date. This way, you can build a repeatable, scalable, and effective hiring strategy to help you avoid costly hiring mistakes.